Career: Actress. Worked as a model, 1942–43, and appeared on magazine covers; appeared in advertisements, including commercials for Carnival Cruise Lines, Arby's restaurants, Fancy Feast cat food, and Tuesday Morning retail stores; appeared in print advertisements with Humphrey Bogart. Stage Door Canteen, New York City, worked as a volunteer hostess; pageant contestant and named Miss Greenwich Village, 1942; also worked as a theatre usher. Nicknames include Baby and the Look.

Member: Actors' Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Players Club.

Awards, Honors: Golden Laurel Award nomination, top female star, 1958; Golden Laurel Award nomination, top female comedy performance, 1958, for Designing Woman; Award for Achievement, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 1963; Medallion of Recognition for contribution to international fashion, Harper's Bazaar, 1966; named Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year, Hasty Pudding Theatricals, Harvard University, 1967; Antoinette Perry Award, best actress in a musical, Drama Desk Award, best actress in a musical, and New York Drama Critics Award, best female lead in a musical, all 1970, Evening Standard Award, 1973, and Sarah Siddons Award, outstanding actress, Sarah Siddons Society, 1975, all for Applause; Emmy Award nomination, outstanding single performance by an actress in a leading role, 1973, for Applause; Film Award nomination, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, best actress, 1977, for The Shootist; Emmy Award nomination, outstanding lead actress in a drama series, 1980, for "Lions, Tigers, Monkeys, and Dogs," The Rockford Files; National Book Award for biography, National Book Foundation, 1980, for Lauren Bacall: By Myself; Antoinette Perry Award, best actress in a musical, 1981, and Sarah Siddons Award, outstanding actress 1983, both for Woman of the Year; Emmy Award nomination (with others), outstanding informational special, 1988, for "Bacall on Bogart," Great Performances; George Eastman Award, distinguished achievement in film, 1990; Career Achievement Award, National Board of Review, 1991; Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award, San Sebastian International Film Festival, 1992; Cecil B. DeMille Award, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 1993, for career achievement; National Board of Review Award (with others), best ensemble performance, 1994, for Pret–a–Porter; honorary Cesar Award, Academie des Arts et Techniques du Cinema, 1995; decorated commander, French Order of Arts and Letters, 1995; San Diego Film Critics Society Award and Actor Award, both best supporting actress, 1996, Golden Globe Award, best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a motion picture, Screen Actors Guild Award, outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role, Academy Award nomination, best actress in a supporting role, Film Award nomination, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, best performance by an actress in a supporting role, and Golden Satellite Award nomination, International Press Academy, best supporting actress in a motion picture comedy or musical, all 1997, all for The Mirror Has Two Faces; Lifetime Achievement Award, Broadcast Film Critics Association, 1997; Berlinale Camera Award, Berlin International Film Festival, 1997; honoree, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 1997; named one of the "top 100 movie stars of all time," by Empire magazine, Great Britain, 1997; Lifetime Achievement Award, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, 1998; inducted into Theatre Hall of Fame, 1998; honorary degree, Columbia University, 1998; Lifetime Achievement Award, Stockholm Film Festival, 2000; received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; named one of the "top twenty–five actress legends," American Film Institute.

CREDITS

Film Appearances:

Marie "Slim" Browning, To Have and Have Not, Warner Bros., 1944.

Rose Cullen, Confidential Agent, Warner Bros., 1945.

Vivian Sternwood Rutledge, The Big Sleep, Warner Bros., 1946.

(Uncredited) Two Guys from Milwaukee (also known as Royal Flush ), Warner Bros., 1946.

Appeared in "Humphrey Bogart," "Humphrey Bogart: Behind the Legend," and "Kirk Douglas: A Lust for Life," all episodes of Biography, Arts and Entertainment; interviewer for an episode of Private View, [Great Britain]; also appeared in Inside the Actors Studio, Bravo.

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Bacall, Lauren

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers
COPYRIGHT 2001 The Gale Group Inc.

BACALL, Lauren

Nationality: American. Born: Betty Joan Perske in the Bronx, New York, 16 September 1924. Education: Attended Julia Richman High School; American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York. Family: Married 1) the actor Humphrey Bogart, 1945 (died 1957), children: Stephen Humphrey and Leslie Howard; 2) the actor Jason Robards, 1961 (divorced 1973), son: Sam Prideaux. Career: Began modeling, also theater-related odd jobs, early 1940s; made New York stage debut as walk-on in Johnny Two-by-Four, 1942; appeared on Harper's Bazaar cover and attracted attention of director Howard Hawks; signed personal contract with Hawks who changed her name to Lauren Bacall, 1943; made film debut in Hawks's To Have and Have Not with Humphrey Bogart, 1944; contract sold to Warners, mid-1940s; protested against HUAC in Washington with Bogart and other celebrities, 1947; fined and suspended by Warners for failing to accept roles, late 1940s; had first Broadway starring role in Goodbye Charlie, 1959; accepted periodic film roles while making highly successful Broadway appearances, from 1960s. Awards: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture Golden Globe, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Screen Actors Guild Award, for The Mirror Has Two Faces, 1996. Address: c/o Johnnie Planco, William Morris Agency, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019, U.S.A.

Morris, Bob, "Just Shooting the Breeze," in New York Times, 19 September 1993.

Haskell, Molly, "To Have and Have Not: The Paradox of the Female Star," in American Imago, Winter 1993.

The Advocate (Los Angeles), 27 December 1994.

* * *

Lauren Bacall's rise to fame as a Hollywood star was meteoric. Soon after Mrs. Howard Hawks noticed her on the March 1943 cover of Harper's Bazaar, the 19-year-old model was quickly signed by producer-director Hawks to a seven-year studio contract.

For her first film, To Have and Have Not, Hawks molded the as yet untried actress into the ideal woman of many men of that period—insolent and provocative, yet one who, underneath her femme fatale exterior, really was a "regular Joe." In her first autobiography, Bacall writes that Hawks "wanted to be a Svengali." He created her voice, her manner, her persona, and quite by accident—because in her nervousness she could not keep her head from shaking—"The Look." Her chin was kept low. Her eyes stared up at a curious and fascinated Humphrey Bogart. When Bacall told Bogart her now famous line—"You know how to whistle, don't you Steve? You just put your lips together and blow"—she emerged an overnight sensation.

Her seductive portrayal of Slim in To Have and Have Not captivated audiences—especially male viewers. Her glamour and apparent sophistication were imitated by the women in the audience. Yet writer Moss Hart cautioned the burgeoning star, "You realize, of course, from here on you have nowhere to go but down."

Hart's words proved prophetic. Bacall's phenomenal success was immediately followed by a crashing critical and box-office failure, Confidential Agent. Miscast as a British upper-class ingenue and lacking Hawks's strong directorial support, Bacall floundered. Jack Warner (who had bought her contract from Hawks) attempted to boost her career by building up her role in the already completed The Big Sleep (in which she was again directed by Hawks). Retakes and new scenes were added to this most confusing film, injecting the qualities that had made her famous—primarily her aloof bearing and on-screen chemistry with Bogart (who by that time she had married). Despite its narrative flaws, The Big Sleep was a box-office success, and Bacall was back on top.

During her tenure at Warner Brothers she starred in only seven films—four of them with Bogart. The fan magazines reveled in the Bogart-Bacall relationship, which only added to their growing popularity as a screen team. Nevertheless, Bacall continually fought with Jack Warner over her assignments, rejecting properties she did not feel would advance her career. This resulted in a series of contract suspensions. One disagreement in particular made headlines when the actress announced she could not be cast in the frothy comedy The Girl from Jones Beach because it required her to appear in a bathing suit.

After leaving Warners in 1950, Bacall experimented with a wider range of material, succeeding at both comedy (How to Marry a Millionaire) and high drama (Written on the Wind). Her beloved Bogie died in 1957; four years later, she married Jason Robards Jr., and her screen appearances became even less frequent. It was not until the 1970s, when Bacall made the transition to character actress, that her work in films took on a new direction. While not incapable of offering solid performances (as she did in the John Wayne Western The Shootist), Bacall too often has come to play herself—a sophisticated, cosmopolitan woman of taste—in such films as Mr. North and Ready to Wear.

Concurrent with her film career, she has appeared in series television (The Rockford Files) and television movies (Perfect Gentlemen, Dinner at Eight), and has lent her distinctive voice to many commercials. Her work on stage is noteworthy—particularly her performances in the comedies Cactus Flower and Waiting in the Wings and the musicals Applause and Woman of the Year.

In 1996, Bacall enjoyed a critical resurgence with what was by far her best screen role in years (if not decades). In Barbra Streisand's The Mirror Has Two Faces, she played yet another urban sophisticate, this one a self-centered Manhattanite. But here, the part was meaty, not merely window dressing but a major component of the story. As a result, Bacall won kudos and awards for her knowing performance. Three years later, she appeared to lesser effect as a madam in Diamonds, in which she was teamed with Kirk Douglas. The two had been friends since the 1940s, and their pairing served as a nostalgic nod to the glories of Old Hollywood star power. Today, Bacall remains one of few surviving major stars of the 1940s, having worked in Hollywood's Golden Age with such luminaries as Bogart, Hawks, John Huston, Gary Cooper, Lionel Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson, and Vincente Minnelli. Her two autobiographies, combined with her performance in The Mirror Has Two Faces, serve as the finishing touches to her career. As she nears eighty, Bacall offers proof that you can get old without losing your looks, or your sense of style.

—Joanne L. Yeck, updated by
Audrey E. Kupferberg

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Bacall, Lauren

Bacall, Lauren (1924– ) US film actress. Following her screen debut opposite Humphrey Bogart, in To Have and Have Not (1944), Bacall and Bogart married in 1945. They starred together in a further three films: The Big Sleep (1946) Dark Passage (1947), and Key Largo (1948). She wrote an autobiography, Lauren Bacall by Myself (1979).

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